Once again, smart and aggressive lawyering has protected top Catholic officials from having to answer in court for their repeated and reckless secrecy and complicity in a troubling child sex abuse and cover up case.

The 11 year old case of Joe V. Doe v. the Holy See, filed in Oregon federal court, has been withdrawn.

Fortunately, however, a similar case in the UK is proceeding. It involves a woman who was sexually assaulted by Father Wilfred Baldwin.

This brave man was able, through this suit, to force Vatican officials – for the first time ever - to turn over records about a pedophile priest. Given the historic and on-going secrecy of the Catholic hierarchy, that’s a huge achievement. We hope he is proud of that accomplishment. We certainly are proud of him.

We hope other victims across the world will continue to pursue more aggressive and creative ways of exposing – and hopefully deterring - the evil deeds of Catholic officials in child sex abuse and cover up cases.